fdutils with USB floppy drive?

On Fri, 9 May 2008, Rich Carreiro wrote:

My current Linux box doesn't have a floppy drive, though I
do have a USB floppy drive. I've had no problems working
with floppies that have already been formatted, but have
been unable to figure out how to get fdformat (and other
floppy utilities) to work on the USB floppy drive. Is
it even possible? Does fdformat/fdutils require a "real"
(i.e. connected to the motherboard floppy controller) floppy?

I don't know, I don't have any USB drives.

One thing, fdformat seems to get information about how it
should format from the device name it is used with, and if
you have to point to something other than one of the /dev/fd*
devices, there may be a problem there.

Since you can create an image that can then be copied to
a floppy with dd, then doing something like creating a file
that has the proper format, and then dd'ing it to the floppy
should work.

My ultimate goal is to be able to create 3.5" DSDD that a
TRS-80 CoCo can read. People have created the necessary
setfdprm configs to format the disk properly, but like
I said, I can't get any of the floppy stuff to recognize
the USB floppy.

Open the computer and see if there's a connector for the
floppy drive. I don't know if those have completely disappeared,
or if computers simply don't include the actual drive. Then
connect a floppy to it, even hanging off the side of the computer
if this is temporary.

Michael

On Fri, 9 May 2008, Rich Carreiro wrote:

My current Linux box doesn't have a floppy drive, though I
do have a USB floppy drive. I've had no problems working
with floppies that have already been formatted, but have
been unable to figure out how to get fdformat (and other
floppy utilities) to work on the USB floppy drive. Is
it even possible? Does fdformat/fdutils require a "real"
(i.e. connected to the motherboard floppy controller) floppy?

I don't know, I don't have any USB drives.

One thing, fdformat seems to get information about how it
should format from the device name it is used with, and if
you have to point to something other than one of the /dev/fd*
devices, there may be a problem there.

Since you can create an image that can then be copied to
a floppy with dd, then doing something like creating a file
that has the proper format, and then dd'ing it to the floppy
should work.

My ultimate goal is to be able to create 3.5" DSDD that a
TRS-80 CoCo can read. People have created the necessary
setfdprm configs to format the disk properly, but like
I said, I can't get any of the floppy stuff to recognize
the USB floppy.

Open the computer and see if there's a connector for the
floppy drive. I don't know if those have completely disappeared,
or if computers simply don't include the actual drive. Then
connect a floppy to it, even hanging off the side of the computer
if this is temporary.

Michael

On Fri, 9 May 2008, Rich Carreiro wrote:

My current Linux box doesn't have a floppy drive, though I
do have a USB floppy drive. I've had no problems working
with floppies that have already been formatted, but have
been unable to figure out how to get fdformat (and other
floppy utilities) to work on the USB floppy drive. Is
it even possible? Does fdformat/fdutils require a "real"
(i.e. connected to the motherboard floppy controller) floppy?

I don't know, I don't have any USB drives.

One thing, fdformat seems to get information about how it
should format from the device name it is used with, and if
you have to point to something other than one of the /dev/fd*
devices, there may be a problem there.

Since you can create an image that can then be copied to
a floppy with dd, then doing something like creating a file
that has the proper format, and then dd'ing it to the floppy
should work.

My ultimate goal is to be able to create 3.5" DSDD that a
TRS-80 CoCo can read. People have created the necessary
setfdprm configs to format the disk properly, but like
I said, I can't get any of the floppy stuff to recognize
the USB floppy.

Open the computer and see if there's a connector for the
floppy drive. I don't know if those have completely disappeared,
or if computers simply don't include the actual drive. Then
connect a floppy to it, even hanging off the side of the computer
if this is temporary.

Michael

Michael Black staggered into the Black Sun and said:

On Fri, 9 May 2008, Rich Carreiro wrote:

My current Linux box doesn't have a floppy drive, though I do have a
USB floppy drive. I've had no problems working with floppies that
have already been formatted, but have been unable to figure out how
to get fdformat (and other floppy utilities) to work on the USB
floppy drive. Is it even possible?

My notes say to check out
http://www.geocities.jp/tedi_world/...fdd_e.html , but this may
or may not work depending on what you need to do.

My ultimate goal is to be able to create 3.5" DSDD that a TRS-80 CoCo
can read.

Since you can create an image that can then be copied to a floppy with
dd, then doing something like creating a file that has the proper
format, and then dd'ing it to the floppy should work.

Um, no. dd won't work in this case because the disks that a TRS-80 used
have a different physical format (different number of tracks, different
numbers of sectors per track) than the standard 80 tracks, 2 heads, 18
sectors/track that a normal 1.4M floppy has. In general, most USB
floppy drives that I've seen will refuse to recognize disks that aren't
in that physical format. This is because floppies are a dead medium and
the goal of a USB floppy drive is to be as cheap as possible.

Open the computer and see if there's a connector for the floppy drive.
I don't know if those have completely disappeared, or if computers
simply don't include the actual drive. Then connect a floppy to it,
even hanging off the side of the computer if this is temporary.

34-pin connectors are still fairly common on x86 motherboards. They
have disappeared from the smaller boards, and soon they'll start
disappearing from the larger boards.

"Assembly of God". Haven't you ever wondered what goes on in a place
like that? What kinds of parts does God need? --Slacquer
My blog and resume: http://crow202.dyndns.org:8080/wordpress/
Matt G|There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see

Michael Black staggered into the Black Sun and said:

On Fri, 9 May 2008, Rich Carreiro wrote:

My current Linux box doesn't have a floppy drive, though I do have a
USB floppy drive. I've had no problems working with floppies that
have already been formatted, but have been unable to figure out how
to get fdformat (and other floppy utilities) to work on the USB
floppy drive. Is it even possible?

My notes say to check out
http://www.geocities.jp/tedi_world/...fdd_e.html , but this may
or may not work depending on what you need to do.

My ultimate goal is to be able to create 3.5" DSDD that a TRS-80 CoCo
can read.

Since you can create an image that can then be copied to a floppy with
dd, then doing something like creating a file that has the proper
format, and then dd'ing it to the floppy should work.

Um, no. dd won't work in this case because the disks that a TRS-80 used
have a different physical format (different number of tracks, different
numbers of sectors per track) than the standard 80 tracks, 2 heads, 18
sectors/track that a normal 1.4M floppy has. In general, most USB
floppy drives that I've seen will refuse to recognize disks that aren't
in that physical format. This is because floppies are a dead medium and
the goal of a USB floppy drive is to be as cheap as possible.

Open the computer and see if there's a connector for the floppy drive.
I don't know if those have completely disappeared, or if computers
simply don't include the actual drive. Then connect a floppy to it,
even hanging off the side of the computer if this is temporary.

34-pin connectors are still fairly common on x86 motherboards. They
have disappeared from the smaller boards, and soon they'll start
disappearing from the larger boards.

"Assembly of God". Haven't you ever wondered what goes on in a place
like that? What kinds of parts does God need? --Slacquer
My blog and resume: http://crow202.dyndns.org:8080/wordpress/
Matt G|There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see